College and Career Choices

Where’d I leave off yesterday? Oh yeah, college. My puppyraiser told me she will be very sad when I go off to college because she will miss me so much, but she is happy that I am going to be embarking on such an exciting new journey.

As for me - to be honest, I don’t know what to think about college. I’m kinda nervous about it, but kinda excited too. My puppyraiser tells me that I will live in a dorm-like environment (aka kennels) and that I will have a roommate. I guess that will be ok as long as my roomie doesn’t snore too much. She also said that I will be assigned to a CCI trainer and that person will teach me all kinds of advanced commands, such as how to turn lights on and off and how to retrieve things. I sure do hope my trainer will be as nice and encouraging as my puppyraiser.

My puppyraiser also tells me that I will have to be on my best behavior (aren’t I always?) and that I will have to work really really hard in college. She says that college is very competitive and that only about 40% of dogs actually go on to graduate! She said that the rest are released (that's sort of the same thing as flunking out). The idea of being released really freaked me out until my puppyraiser told me that if that were to happen, I could come back and live with her FOREVER! She told me that while I’m in college, I will have to decide whether I want to be an Assistance Dog or whether I’d prefer to do something else. And, if I decide that I don’t want to be an assistance dog, I will become what is called a change of career (COC) dog and she will help me figure out what to do with my life. She said that I'm way too good just to be a stay-at-home dog. So, she would want to see whether I could get certified to be a therapy dog, where she could take me to visit patients in hospitals.

So, it's a win-win situation for me! I'm either going to graduate and become an Assistance Dog. Or, I'm going to get released and come home to my very own personal career counselor! How cool is that?!